


The Heart is Insincere

by PagetPaulson



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-10-30 02:39:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10867305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PagetPaulson/pseuds/PagetPaulson
Summary: A new job at the BAU and a child she hadn't told her oldest friend about. Can Emily and Hotch get through the trials of a tried friendship and kept secrets?





	1. Chapter 1

It was the strangest feeling to be so nervous on the way to see a man she'd known more than half her life. Walking up the steps to the government building, the ambassador's daughter smoothed the wrinkles in her skirt and tightened her hold on her new briefcase.

Of course she wasn't happy that she had to move her daughter across the country. That was a headache in its own. It didn't matter how many times she explained to the young girl that the move was what was best for them. Everything to children her age seemed like the end of the world.

Following an agent into the West building, Emily walked right up to the security desk beside the metal detectors. "I have a meeting on the sixth floor."

The younger man looked up from his computer. "Name?"

"Emily Prentiss," she smiled.

Typing the name into the database, the security officer nodded. "Here's your guest pass," he said shortly, handing the plastic to her over the desk. "You're permitted for two hours. The front desk will be alerted if your pass is not checked out by that time."

The brunette nodded, quickly making her way through security and to the elevators, clipping the ID badge to the bottom of her blazer.

"New agent?"

Looking up to the strong voice Emily almost nodded. "Hopefully."

Hearing the elevator stop on the right floor, the brown eyed woman stepped into the BAU's lobby entrance. Stepping toward the glass doors, the D.C native almost felt herself smiling.

"Lost, sugar?"

Turning at the cheerful voice, Emily shook her head "I don't think so. This is the Behavioral Analysis Unit, isn't it?"

The perky blonde in the orange dress gave a nod. "The one and only." Blue eyes lighting up, the woman who Emily guessed was a BAU agent stepped right into her personal space. "Are you here for Hotch?"

Emily smiled. He still used the nickname she had given him. "I am," she almost laughed. "Do you happen to know where his office is?"

Immediately the blonde linked her arm with Emily's and led her into the bullpen. "Oh my raven haired beauty, I cannot tell you how excited I am," she gushed. "I'm Penelope, by the way. I'm the tech goddess here at the BAU and I have the pleasure of seeing our grumpy bossman every day."

The brown eyed woman frowned. "Grumpy?" That wasn't the Hotch she remembered.

"But now he can have a smile on his face!" Penelope grinned. "All because of you!" Leading Emily over to the desks closest to the catwalk, the blue eyed woman smiled. "My beautiful gentlemen, Hotch's new love interest is here!"

Emily's eyes bugged. "What?"

"Love interest?" The darker of the two turned in his chair. "Baby girl what are you talking about?"

"Remember when Dave said he found a lovely lady to get Hotch's mind off of Haley? This is her!"

Haley? Emily knew that name. "No," she spoke quickly. "I'm not. I'm here for an interview."

The blonde in her orange dress looked to the newcomer, her face fallen. "An interview of love?"

"I'm sorry," the ambassador's daughter replied, shaking her head. "There's an open position on the alpha team I'm being considered for."

"Emily Prentiss."

Turning at the familiar voice the single mother grinned at the sight of the older man. "Aaron Hotchner," she laughed, letting him take her into a hug. "My God, how did you get even taller?" Pulling back, she left one hand on his bicep. "And you've got some muscles now?"

"College does change a man," the Unit Chief joked. "And now the job? Excess gym time." Looking to the rest of his colleagues, Hotch turned his friend to face them. "I assume you've met Emily."

The scrawny agent who hadn't yet spoken almost raised his hand. "Prentiss? As in Ambassador Prentiss?"

Emily did her best not to make a face. "My mother," she nodded.

"Secretary of State Lawrence Prentiss?"

A smile this time. "My father."

Hotch was fast to put a hand on his friend's arm. "We do have a meeting to get to, so I apologize but we do have to leave you."

Penelope watched with wide eyes as her boss put a hand to the brunette's back as he led her into his office. "Holy Sam I Am," she breathed, seeing the pair hug once more through the window. "Tell Dave to call the other woman and cancel that date. Emily totally can be his new flame!"

Derek's head slowly shook. "I don't think so, baby girl. They're friends."

"He's hugging her!" the blonde almost screamed. "Since when does bossman hug anyone?"

Pulling away from the older man, Emily finally set down her briefcase. "It's so good to see you. I'm sorry I haven't been able to call you recently."

Hotch's head shook as he made his way behind his desk. "Don't apologize. I've been busy too." Sitting down he looked at the brunette before him. She had thinned out a little bit but her hair and eyes were just as dark, her ivory skin still untouched by the sun. "You look beautiful."

Emily blushed, smoothing down her skirt before sitting down. "Thank you. I feel a lot older than thirty, let me tell you."

"You don't look a day over twenty," he countered.

The brunette laughed. "I can't say the same for you." Leaning forward, she let her eyes squint. "Are those some gray hairs I see?"

Hotch grinned. "That's what a four year old can do to you."

Emily's eyes widened. "A four year old?"

The older man turned a picture around on his desk for his friend to see. "His name is Jack." Letting his friend take the picture in her hands, he smiled. "He looks more like Haley."

Emily's head shot up. She knew that name was familiar. "Haley," she nodded. "How is she?"

The Unit Chief's smile slowly fell. "We're no longer together, but she's doing well to my knowledge."

Smiling, the brunette set the picture back on Hotch's desk. "Well this boy shows pure Hotchner blood."

"I keep hearing that," he nodded. "What about you? Any kids?"

Emily felt her body still. After he left his posting at her mother's home they sent letters, later emails, and made phone calls here and there, but never had she spoken of her daughter. She didn't need another person in her life to judge her. "A daughter," the brunette spoke slowly. Despite her anxiousness, thinking of her daughter made her smile.

Hotch shared his friend's grin. "I bet she looks just like you." He knew how strong those Prentiss genes were.

"She really does," the younger woman chuckled.

"Are you starting to see that Prentiss stubborn just yet?"

Emily playfully rolled her eyes. "Just a little."

The Unit Chief was quick to open the new day planner Dave had given him to write down her new number. "We'll get them together and we can catch up. How does that sound?"

She hoped he couldn't see her gulp. "Sounds great."


	2. Chapter 2

Locking the car doors, the new BAU agent made her through the parking garage and to her new apartment building's elevator.

She and Hotch had, had a better conversation than she could have imagined. He had been impressed with her work back in Chicago and her liaison role to the CIA that e almost offered her the job the moment they started the interview.

But the kicking point was her language abilities and the fact that she was also offered a linguist position at the State Department.

After he had offered her the profiler position, Hotch made sure to quickly set a date for a play date for their children, dependent on whether or not they would get called out for a case.

Walking into their new apartment, Emily watched as the babysitter tried to hide the broken vase behind her back. "You may think I'm old but I sure as hell am not blind," she snickered, noticing her daughter grabbing the dust pan.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Prentiss," the teenager said quickly. "It's my fault."

Emily's head shook, walking through the foyer and setting her briefcase on the dining room table. "Don't worry about it, Maya. I'll clean it up."

Biting her lip as she heard the front door open and close, the new BAU agent watched her daughter begin to clean up the mess. "So what happened here?"

"My fault," was the dark haired girl's quick response. Her eyes didn't come up to meet her mother's. "I got bored and wanted to play catch."

Emily tried to hide her disappointment when the conversation abruptly ended there. Walking to the living room and sitting on the couch, the single mother ran her tongue over her front two teeth. "I got the job."

"Congrats." She hadn't doubted that would happen. "Would have really sucked to move your daughter across the country and not gt the job you basically staked our lives on, right?"

The brunette woman sighed. "Ava."

Ava Joan, the name she had fought against when she realized how old and ugly it sounded, looked up. "I'm allowed to be mad," she stated firmly.

Emily slowly nodded her head. That girl grew up to be more like her each and every day. "I know."

"So let me be."

Emily let her eyes follow the dark haired girl as she walked into the kitchen and threw the pieces of the vase into the trashcan. "I met a woman who was a champion soccer player," she said smiling. She knew her daughter had wanted to join a team for a while. "Maybe she can help you practice."

"Why? I don't want to join a team."

The thirty year old frowned. "Since when?"

Ava almost slammed the cabinet door after throwing the dust pan inside. "Since we moved from the team with my friends on it!"

Emily ran her hand down her face, hearing her daughter march her way up to her new room and close the door as hard as she could without slamming it. It didn't matter how mad she was, Ava knew she wasn't allowed to slam the door.

Jumping at the shrill ringing of the landline, Emily sighed. She picked the phone up with her free had, her other busy taking off her heels. "Hello?"

"Hello darling."

The brunette froze. "Mother." Standing from the couch she felt her shoulders automatically straighten. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Lose the attitude, Emily. It isn't charming."

"I apologize." Emily walked herself into the kitchen and took a wine glass from the cabinet. "How are you, mother?"

The ambassador signed her name on the last contract to cross her desk before shooing her assistant from her office. "I'm just fine. I wanted to know how the move went. Did you get the job?"

Emily watched the red wine splash against the glass in her hand as she poured it. It was her mother's worst nightmare for her to be working in the field, so it meant a lot that she simply asked the question. "I got it."

"Well you don't sound happy."

The single mother blew out a breath, sinking onto one of their kitchen stools. "Ava hates me, mom."

Elizabeth frowned. "Now why on Earth would you say that?"

"She's upset from the move and I tried to explain to her that it was for the good of our family. You can only go so far in Chicago."

"And she hasn't seen the benefit of it yet. Darling, you can't expect a child her age to understand." Elizabeth sat back in her desk chair. "What's the real problem here, Emily?"

Chewing nervously on her lip, the brunette stared down into her wine glass. "I'm doing my best not to turn into you."

There was a pause on the other end. "I feel as if I should be insulted."

"Mother," Emily sighed, "I don't mean to be rude. But you know how much I hated my childhood. I don't want to do the same thing to Ava that you and daddy did to me."

Elizabeth looked down to a picture she had on her desk of Emily and her late husband. "I won't disagree that we could have been better parents."

"How do I get Ava to realize this was a good decision?"

"Emily darling, you can't force her to be alright with the move," the ambassador told her daughter. "If you try and simply show her what's good about D.C she'll come to terms on her own. Do you remember what happened when your father and I tried to force you out of your funk after a move?"

The FBI agent sadly shook her head. She didn't want to have to wait years for a good relationship with her daughter.

Noting her daughter's silence, Elizabeth smiled. "Let her come to you in her own time. I promise you that once she experiences D.C and makes a few friends, she'll love it."


	3. Chapter 3

"Ava," the brunette woman sighed, "I need you to come over and eat some dinner."

The green eyed girl shook her head, focusing on the novel she held in her lap.

Clenching her jaw, Emily set the salad down on the dining room table before making her way back to the living room. Taking the book from her daughter's hands, she prepared for an onslaught. "Get your butt off the couch and into the dining room," she demanded. "Now."

Ava's jaw dropped. "Give me my book back."

"You get your book back once I get my daughter back." Pushing lightly on her daughter's shoulder, Emily watched her finally stand from the couch. "I know you're upset about moving but I don't know how many times I can tell you it was what was best for us."

Ava almost threw herself down in the chair.

The ambassador's daughter sat across from the only child, watching carefully as she took the salad bowl and put some on her plate. "Do you want any dressing?"

Taking the fork from her napkin, Emily's daughter stabbed a piece of lettuce and took it into her mouth without any dressing. Her dark eyes stared down her mother as she let her teeth cut the leaf.

"Look," the FBI agent sighed, "we don't fight. I don't want to start anything with you."

Ava ignored the older woman, stabbing another piece of lettuce with her fork.

"I know you're upset about the move, baby. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn't move any higher in the department back in Chicago and I didn't just have one offer here in D.C but two. Either way my interview went at the Bureau, I would have gotten a better job with a higher salary."

The green eyed girl kept her head bowed, staring intently at the salad on her plate as she contemplated her words. "You could have found something there," she whispered.

Emily looked to her daughter with sad eyes. "Don't you think I tried? Honey, if I could have kept us in Chicago I would have. I didn't purposely take you from your friends." Setting her chin in her hand, she waited for Ava's eyes to look up from her plate. "You don't think I lost any friends in this? Our neighbors on the block?"

Ava chewed on her lip much like her mother did when she was nervous.

"You're not the only one who's upset here," the agent reminded her. "If I didn't have to move us all the way to D.C, you know I wouldn't have."

The brunette girl licked her lips. "I know."

Emily smiled smally at her daughter's acknowledgement. "I promise that I'm just as upset as you are, but I think we can make a good life here. You can still talk to your friends on the phone or video chat them."

Slowly, Ava looked up to her mother and locked eyes with her.

"You're going to make new friends at school," Emily supplied. "I've met a few people I'll be working with and they seem nice. Don't you think the same thing will happen with you and your new schoolmates?"

"I guess so."

The ambassador's daughter sat straighter in her chair. "What can I do to make it easier for you, Ava?"

The brunette finally set her fork down, putting her curls behind her ears. "I want to talk to dad," she whispered, knowing the look her mother must have been giving her. "I know I can't and that sounds stupid, but I want to talk to him. I think if I do then I can have an easier time adjusting."

Emily nervously licked her lips. "Well honey, I can help you talk to him. It's not impossible."

"Do you think it's stupid?"

"Ava," the older woman breathed, "it's not stupid. I promise."

Ava's head shook. "I don't want to talk about it," she huffed, taking the lasagna from the middle of the table and taking some for herself.

Emily watched as her daughter started to eat, noticing Ava's fingers tapping against the tablecloth. It wouldn't be difficult for Emily to help her daughter talk to her father but she knew it would be trying on the young girl.

"Who else did you meet at work?"

The abrupt change of topic had Emily's eyes grow wide. "A few people. I didn't get to talk to a lot of them just yet," she shrugged, "but I got to see an old friend."

Ava met her mother's eyes. "Who?"

"Someone who worked for grandma a few years back," Emily supplied. Reaching for the salad bowl, the new agent shook her head. "He has a son, actually. How would you feel about getting together with them? Get to know a few people around town?"

"Do I have to?"

Emily chuckled. "Yes," she nodded, taking her first bite of the dinner. "But you'll like them."

Ava sighed into her lasagna. "After dinner, can we just watch a movie?" They were going to start getting her ready to go to school the next week and were going to go and pick up her uniform and books. "I don't want to think about all of this anymore tonight."

The brown eyed woman watched as her daughter slowly played with the cheese on her plate. "Of course we can, sweetheart." Anything to make it easier for her daughter, she would do it.


	4. Chapter 4

Adjusting the old picture of her daughter on her new desk, Emily looked over the small expanse. Her first few days at the BAU had been trying on the relationship she had with her daughter; the threat of her having to fly off to solve a case the first week her daughter was adjusting to a new city and school system being the last thread of Ava being able to hold onto her positivity.

The dinners once the newest agent got home were mostly silent until Ava herself got tired of the tension and asked her mother to pass the peas.

But thankfully Emily's new coworkers had been able to bring some levity to her days. Spencer was the most adorable adult she'd ever interacted with, and the way he blossomed around their technical analyst always made her smile. She had found out that JJ also had a child, and they discussed everything from their children's attitudes to favorite hobbies.

Emily hadn't been able to speak much to Derek or Rossi other than when she got their help on one of the files Hotch had placed on her desk, but she knew that once she had the chance to really talk to them it would be easier for her to head out with the team.

Hotch couldn't have been more supportive of her. When she had found it difficult to deal with the constant calls from her lonesome daughter Hotch had made sure to sit her down for a private lunch and tell her a few stories about him and Jack. From all she had heard, the four year old was a handful but well behaved when his father picked him up for their days together.

"Hey Princess."

Brows shooting up at the nickname, Emily turned in her chair to face her coworker. "Are you talking to me?" she almost laughed.

The younger man's lips tightened when he realized he may have made a mistake. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

Emily shook her head. "What's up?"

"A couple of us and a few members of Team Bravo are headed out to a bar downtown tonight. Do you want to come?"

The single mother smiled wide at the other agent. He had approached her the day before to ask the same question, but a phone call to his desk quickly cut him off. She hadn't been sure if they still had gone out that night. "I would love to," she grinned, "but I really can't. I have to get home to my daughter."

Derek stood from his desk and peeked over Emily's shoulder to see the picture she had set on her desk. "She looks just like you," he nodded, noting the little girl's dimples. "Is she still that small?"

Emily rolled her lips and gently shook her head. "Not so small anymore."

"Well the offer stands." He sat himself back at his desk and logged out of his email. "It's a Friday so we'll more than likely be there until after ten."

"Thank you," she smiled.

Turning around she packed up the rest of her things and made sure she had her treat for Ava packed away in her briefcase. It was almost six already and if she wasn't home before seven she would have her daughter blowing up her phone.

Hotch slowly closed his office door as he looked down to the newest agent on his team. She had been strong the first week on the job, helping with the profiles and even calming down officers who had gotten rowdy during custodial interview. It was obvious to him that when he hired her Emily would be a great agent, but the fact that she had done such an amazing job in the first few days certainly impressed him. "Emily."

The brunette turned in her chair and smiled up to her oldest friend. "Hi Hotch."

"Getting ready to go?"

Emily slowly nodded. "My nanny is going to want to be getting home soon and I promised Ava her favorite dinner."

The older brunette smiled at the softness he saw on his subordinate's face at the mention of her daughter. "Yeah, I have Jack tonight." Thinking of the young Prentiss girl he hadn't yet met, Hotch took a step forward. "Why don't we have dinner?"

The ambassador's daughter felt her eyes bug out of her head at the notion. "Tonight?"

"I'm not sure if we'll be called away tomorrow and you did promise me that I could meet your daughter," Hotch smiled. "What do you say?"


End file.
